I do love this quilt!

I have to say it again… I love this quilt! I know I say it about almost all of them, but there’s something about the softness of this one that instantly makes it one of my very favorites!

I used 6″ squares of each of the prints in the Far Far Away line – mainly because they all look so great together and I couldn’t bear to separate them! I decided to just do a minimal amount of quilting, to make sure it remained as soft as possible – I went for diagonal lines through the squares, but changed it up just a bit by quilting 1/4″ on either side of the diagonal for one direction, and then just the one diagonal line through the other direction. If that description doesn’t make any sense, you can better see below what I’m talking about!

I mentioned the other day that I got some help from the lovely Kathy on coordinating solids, and she did not disappoint! I wanted something fun for the back, and this purply/pinky color was just perfect. I had selected it online but was concerned that it might not match (having not seen it in person), so Kathy kindly confirmed for me that it was a good match! In case you’re wondering, it’s a Robert Kaufmann Kona cotton in Cerise. (oh, and that orange strip below is RK Kona in Papaya – also a fun match!)

I was too impatient to wait for the greens, but realized that I already had a perfect one in my stash – this one is a green from the Net of Jewels line. It really goes perfectly with the greens used in the FFA prints! I used a couple strips of it on the back to outline the strip of scraps I pieced together and then also used it for the binding.

Beautiful, but I NEED to know: how come it’s crinkly? I’ve read about people not washing fabric, then stippling and than washing for the crinkly effect – how did you get that without lots of quilting?
I’m really quite amazed!

And I think what works really well for this quilt is that the horses are white on solid darker colours – that puts the light into every square – a true beauty!

First I have to say that I admire your quilts, for me as a beginner it is sooo motivating to see such ” art d’oeuvre” as we say in french.
Now may I ask a question: What kind of batting are you using? Thank you for some suggestions on this.

Those fabrics are so sweet, I really like them. Your quilt looks beautiful. I liked the way you quilted it too. I have a question. How do you baste your quilts? Do you use the basting spray, or pins? Iâ€™m curious. 🙂 I am just starting to quilt my quilts now, and like to know how otherâ€™s are doing theirs.

That is just stunning. Looove the Far Far Away fabric. I am SO in awe of your quilting skills.

I haven’t gone through all your archives yet, but do you have a post (or would you consider writing one) about how you learned to quilt? Do you sell your creations? Is this your full-time job? Because I am just speachless at the speed with which you crank out these masterpieces!

i really like the way you quilted this one. I try to stick to simple quilting because i’m new at it. I’ve been trying to decide how to quilt one that i’m making for my son…. i think this is the winner! thanks for the great idea!

Hi Kim – The Far Far Away fabric is a double gauze fabric – two layers of a gauze fabric sewn together with tiny stitches. The gauze fabric is quite soft to the touch, and because there are two layers, it feels a bit more plush than other fabrics.

I made my first quilt for my fiance as a gift for finishing the Naval Academy’s summer training before his first academic year there. I didn’t technically quilt it. I just hand sewed at the corners of the squares to hold it all together. I’m making a t-shirt quilt now out of our high school t-shirts and I want to machine quilt it. I’m wondering if you have some advice on what color thread to use. Ive noticed you too use white with your bright bold colors and your choice of color for the quilting thread seems to work wonderfully with ever color on your quilt. It never seems to look distracting. What did you use for this quilt? What do you normally use? White?

My quilt has a lot of white space, but there are navy blue, royal blue, gray, and gold t-shirt squares. I’m worried the white may be distracting on the blue squares… but anything besides white on the white would look silly. Any advice?

Hi Bethany! Thanks so much!
As far as thread color – I’m into the neutrals – for the most part I use an off white thread – it tends to blend in with almost everything. I also like a light gray as a neutral… also blends nicely. I think either would work well for the quilt you’re describing! Hope that helps!

I just made my first FFA quilt just like yours with the exception of using same sized squares of the Kona cottons in the shades you mentioned and a couple more and just sprinkled them throughout. I need to make another one just like it so that it can go on the bunkbeds and be princess and the pea high :o) Love yours, thanks for the inspiration

LOVE this quilt. so. absolutely. much. In fact, loved it so much, I might try to make a similar one. You know, I’d said no more fabric for a while, and when I saw this, I knew I had to go out and get some FFA fabric. Eeeek. MUST get sewing as soon as we are settled into our new place. You are so talented!

I’m always surprised at the softness of the Heather Ross fabric compared to other quilting fabrics. Your quilt is absolutely gorgeous and nice work on the colours on the back – I especially like the green!

Hi Kim. Like all the rest, I am amazed at how beautiful your FFA quilt is. I loved il so much that I bought the Fat Quarters Set from Kathy. I just had to have it, especially after I read that Heather won’t be doing any more designing for the outside world until her contract is up. The colors speak to me (orange being my favorite, but with green moving up to second place), and once I saw your quilt, I was hooked.

Was your placement of the blocks random? or did you have a method to your madness?? 8-). I have never really quilted before, but I’m going for it! Pray for me and the fabric….lol.

Ashley, I have never used FFA fabrics, are they easy to sew together with the batting and backing? I love using squares for my quilts, I cut odd pieces of fabric into different size squares and keep them in bags ready to go. do the same with strips of fabrics for sashing or borders. Love this quilt, all your quilts are soooo nice. maybe soneday and with more practice mine will continue to get better. I love quilting and getting tips for others. thank you